Did George W Bush ever mock death row inmate Karla Faye Tucker?

26th August 2018 | Ennis85

[Ennis85]

I was just on a blog post today about the death of John McCain and there was a discussion about his integrity compared to his opponents. And one of the people he was compared to was his Republican primary opponent of 2000 George Bush.

This comment caught my eye;

"In 2000 George Bush and John McCain were competing in the South Carolina Republican primary. Bush chose to spread rumours that McCain had fathered a black child out of wedlock, and McCain's adopted Bangladeshi daughter was used as the proof. Bush won the closely contested primary. Bush was never a decent person like McCain, as we knew from before when he mocked and jeered at a woman sentenced to death and pleading to him, the Governor of Texas, for mercy.

George Bush Sr. also did not balk at using racist dirty tricks in the 1988 campaign against Dukakis."

I decided to do some digging and from what I found out it originated from an interview with Tucker Carlson

"From: "Devil May Care" by Tucker Carlson, Talk Magazine, September 1999, p. 106

"Bush's brand of forthright tough-guy populism can be appealing, and it has played well in Texas. Yet occasionally there are flashes of meanness visible beneath it. While driving back from the speech later that day, Bush mentions Karla Faye Tucker, a double murderer who was executed in Texas last year. In the weeks before the execution, Bush says, Bianca Jagger and a number of other protesters came to Austin to demand clemency for Tucker. 'Did you meet with any of them?' I ask.

Bush whips around and stares at me. 'No, I didn't meet with any of them,' he snaps, as though I've just asked the dumbest, most offensive question ever posed. 'I didn't meet with Larry King either when he came down for it. I watched his interview with , though. He asked her real difficult questions, like 'What would you say to Governor Bush?' 'What was her answer?' I wonder. 'Please,' Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, 'don't kill me.' I must look shocked -- ridiculing the pleas of a condemned prisoner who has since been executed seems odd and cruel, even for someone as militantly anticrime as Bush -- because he immediately stops smirking.

'It's tough stuff,' Bush says, suddenly somber, 'but my job is to enforce the law.' As it turns out, the Larry King-Karla Faye Tucker exchange Bush recounted never took place, at least not on television. During her interview with King, however, Tucker did imply that Bush was succumbing to election-year pressure from pro-death penalty voters. Apparently Bush never forgot it. He has a long memory for slights." (Carlson, Talk, 9/99)"

Like from what I could see the only evidence I can see is Tucker Carlson's take on the interview not a transcript or anything like that.

So I just wanted to know out of curiosity was it ever confirmed whether Bush ever did that or if Bush himself ever denied doing so? Of all the things I've seen thrown at him over the years I can only vaguely recall this being brought up even once.

[Mrs. Don-o]

OK, that's what I was wanting to know.

Thanks for responding.

[Sans-Culotte]

Karla Faye Tucker was an execrable POS. Her murders were brutal beyond belief. Bush did the right thing.

I remember her case from when the crimes were first reported. By the time they were getting ready to execute her, much was made of the fact that Tucker had become religious, and somehow should not be put to death. If she did find Christ, that's great. But I thought it was unseemly of her to expect clemency because of a conversion (real or feigned) that occurred years after the (brutal) murders.

If she was truly saved, then it meant she was going to a better place. It did not mean she should not be executed for her crimes.